E 357 



.M41 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



DDDDSDT^SEH 




. * • A <* 






'bv' 






4* • 







V* 



;• j> *% \%w* , <? *+ 'J 











•^ 



* ^ 






/ v^v v^-v %^v 



W 







A 












t J. /it/t ***/, 

/ / / • / 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts* 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,! 

June 25, 1812. / 

THE Committee of the House of Representatives to 
whom was referred the Message of His Excellency the Go- 
vernor, transmitting a letter from the Hon. Mr. Lloyd, one 
of the Senators of this Commonwealth in the Congress of the 
United States, enclosing the copy of an Act of Congress, de- 
claring War against the United Kingdom of Great-Britain and 
Ireland, and to whom was also referred the Memorial of the 
Inhabitants of Salem to this House ; have attended the service 
assigned them, and ask leave to Report' the following Address 
to the People of this Commonwealth, which is respectfully 
submitted. 

N. TILLINGHAST,j,er Order. 



* . * v.^ V s A 



\ . ^ • >^'\ 



•3 *. 



ADDRESS 

OF THE HOUSE OF BEPBESEWTATIVES 



TO THE 



PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



FELLOW CJTIZEXS, 
THE House of Representatives of Massachusetts, 
having nearly completed the ordinary duties of the ses- 
sion, upon the eve of an adjournment, are induced to 
delay their departure for their homes, by the intelligence 
just received, of War declared by the Umted States 
against Great Britain. Though the recent course of 
public afFairs has led some of us to anticipate this event, 
as the natural and inevitable consequence of the infla- 
tion which has presided in the national councils, and ot 
the fatal desertion of your interests by some of your own 
Representatives in Congress j yet we are sensible that 
this calamity will fall upon most of you as a sudden and 
unexpected visitation ; and be regarded by you as an 
instance of inconceivable folly and desperation , \\ - 
nlsn know, that it will be natural for you to look to 



4 

Wards your State Legislature, for the suggestion of some 
means of relief from a condition so repugnant to your 
wishes and interests. Most gladly would we devote our* 
time and exertions to any means of repairing the mischief 
already begun, or of averting the ruinous consequences 
which await our country. But our disposition unless 
seconded by the active energies of the people can be of 
no avail. The system deliberately adopted at a former 
Session for securing permanent power to a majority of 
the Senate in defiance of the voice of the people, impedes 
and defeats the expression of the public will. The ap- 
probation of War measures by a minority in this branch 
and by certain members of Congress from this state, ex- 
hibits you as a divided people to those who triumph in 
your divisions, as a source of their own power ; and the 
National Government has been induced to believe that your 
fears and dissentions combined with your sober habits, 
and natural aversion from the appearance of opposition to 
the laws, are sufficient pledges for your tame acquies- 
cence in the abandonment of your local interests, and for 
your supporting at the expense of your blood and trea- 
sure, a war, unnecessary, unjustifiable and impolitic; 
which under the pretence of vindicating the independence 
of our cou ntry against a nation which does not threaten 
it, must too probably consign your liberties to the care 
of a tyrant who has blotted every vestige of independence 
from the continent of Europe. 

Having presented a temperate and respectful memori- 
al to Congress, praying them to avert the evils of war 
without effect ; it no longer becomes us to conceal our 
sentiments upon the causes and tendency of the present 



war. The time perhaps approaches, when like other 
minions of French power and influence, we shall be ex- 
pected to observe a timid and profound silence upon the 
measures of administration. A war begun upon princi- 
ciples so outrageous to public opinions, to the feelings 
and interests of this people, can be supported only by the 
violence which destroys the freedom of speech, and en- 
dangers the liberty of the citizen. But while our Cham- 
ber is not yet encompassed by a standing army and the 
writ of habeas corpus is not suspended, we will lift up a 
warning voice to our constituents, and apprise them of 
their danger. 

When amidst the peaceful scenes, in which for 
thirty years you have been accustomed to repost ■, 
you are made to realise that war exists ; when you find 
that to supply the exhausted treasury, paper money has 
been issued ; and that direct and burdensome taxes must 
be imposed upon your lands and your occupations, while 
the mei ns of providing for their payment are diminish- 
ed ; we feel with what inquisitive anxiety you will look 
around you for the causes of your tribulation. No in 
vasion of our country has been threatened. No enemy 
was near. No enterprise upon our independence had 
been undertaken. Neither treason, insurrection, nor re- 
sistance to the execution of the laws, were to be appre 
hended : Your commercial rights it is true have been ex- 
posed to violation by the belligerent nations, and injuries 
have been sustained, that were entitled to redress. But 
though the measure of injury cannot affect the right of re- 
paration ; it ought not to be disregarded by a wise nation 
in its attempt to procure atonement, by a resort to the 
last extremity. 



6 

Without stopping upon this most solemn occasion, to 
notice the insinuations and assertions so lavishly made, 
of a plot to dismember the Union, by the employment 
of secret emissaries, and the attempts to excite Indian 
hostilities, insinuations and assertions wholly unsup- 
ported by proof, and which furnish conclusive evidence 
of a want of more important reasons ; we may consider 
the causes assigned by government for this appeal to 
nrms, to be, in substance, 

First. The impressment of American seamen. 

Secondly. The principles of blockade, imputed to the 
British government, by which ports not actually invest- 
ed may be considered as subject to blockade. 

Thirdly, and principally. The Orders in Council. 

In regard to the impressment of our seamen, the Bri- 
tish government have at no period pretended to the right 
of taking them, knowing them to be such. They claim 
the right of visiting neutral ships in search of their own 
subjects ; and in the exercise of it, abuses, though to a 
much less extent than the people have been led to be- 
lieve, have been practised. But the conclusive remark 
upon this subject is, that Mr. Monroe now Secretary 
of State, and Mr. Pinkney, the present Attorney Ge- 
neral, had made an arrangement with the British Go- 
vernment, for the protection of our seamen, which in 
their judgment would have been perfectly competent 
to that object. But this arrangement, President Jef- 
ferson, evidently and fatally determined to preserve 
every source of irritation, refused to confirm. Since 
that period the British Government has always profess- 
ed a willingness to enter upon new arrangements, their 



7 

Minister has lately explicitly offered to obtain the re- 
storation of every American Seaman, upon being fur- 
nished with a list of them. We cannot but add, that 
the Senate of this Commonwealth has refused to con- 
cur with the House in the means of procuring from, 
every town a list of their impressed citizens, the number 
of which we have reason to believe would appear quite 
inconsiderable in comparison with the exaggerated allega- 
tions of our administration, as well as with those who 
by this act of their own Government, are now exposed to 
capture and to confinement in prison ships. 

Upon the question of constructive blockades^ sep- 
arate from the Orders in Council, which rest on 
special circumstances, there can be no pretence for 
a controversy, involving the necessity of War. The 
British Government has declared in "official com- 
munications" that to constitute a blockade "par^ 
ticular ports must be actually invested and previous war- 
ning given to vessels bound to them not to enter." To 
this definition it is understood, that the American Gov- 
ernment assents. But it is alleged that Great Britain 
violates her professed limitation of this right of blockade, 
by her Orders in Council, which are in effect, a construc- 
tive blockade of France, and her dependencies. 

It is far from the disposition of your Representatives 
to investigate the reasons advanced by Great Britain in 
defence of this measure, which her present administration 
consider essential to the maintenance of her indepen- 
dence. But we may confidently appeal to your good 
sense, for confirmation of the solemn truth, that war a- 
gainst Great Britain alone, at the moment she declares 



8 

her Orders in Council repealed, whenever a revocation o£ 
the French decrees shall have effect, is a measure stamp- 
ed with partiality and injustice. By the operation of 
these orders our commerce is excluded from the ports 
of France and her dependencies. But were they repeal. 
ed, the municipal regulations, heavy duties and other 
multiplied embarrassments in those ports, would be ob- 
stacles to that commerce, not less effectual than the Brit- 
ish edicts. Thus to obtain the right to traffick with 
France, which would not be worth pursuing, we re- 
nounce a participation in a lucrative commerce with the 
rest of the world. To indemnify the merchant for his 
partial losses, his whole property is exposed to capture. 
To secure retribution for occasional depredations, and in- 
dividual outrage upon solitary vessels by British cruis- 
ers, the entire navigation of the country and your brave 
seamen will fall a prey to their fleets, which cover the 
ocean. 

This cursory view of the alleged causes of hostility, 
compared with your own observation, and recollection of 
the course of events, will enable you to judge not only of 
the sincerity of the administration, but of the soliditv of 
their motives. We beg you also to recollect that" the 
French Decrees, while they were much more outrageous 
in principle, were long anterior in time, and there- 
fore first demanded resistance from our Government, 
and that it appears by public documents, that the Orders 
in Council would have been revoked, had not our admin- 
istration thought proper to connect the revocation with a 
claim for the relinquishment of principles of blockade 
which are now recognized as conformable to the Law of 
Nations. From these considerations we are constrained 



i dutj to express our fears and persuasion, 
t the deplorable event which has now come to pass, 
lttributable to other causes. The most prominent of 
these is the embarrassment arising from the precipitate 
declaration of the President of the United States, that the 
gnch decrees, which violated our commercial rights, 
re repealed. This assurance has been contradicted by 
tries of events and circumstances which leave no room. 
for doubt. By the sinking and burning of our vessels 
the high seas ; by the formal declaration of the French 
Government enforcing and amplifying those decrees; and 
tally by the language of the last Presidential Message 
Congress, which, while it still asserts the repeal of thpse 
decrees, explicitly admits, that since the period of such 
pretended repeal " her government lias authorized ille- 
" gal captures by its privateers and public ships, and that 
other outrages have been practised on our vessels and 
* our citizens ; and that no indemnity has been provided 
" or pledged for French spoliations on the property of 
" our citizens." It is thus manifest, that the mock re- 
vocation of those decrees is an insult to common sense. 
Yet to disguise the imposition practised upon our Exe-r 
cutive, to gratify its wounded pride, and evade the re- 
traction of error, we are called upon to hazard all that is 
dear to a nation. 

Another and more remote cause of this war, we are 
compelled to refer to a disposition in many, whose influ- 
ence predominates in our national councils, to aggrandize 
the Southern and Western States at the expence of the 
Eastern section of the Union. It is unquestionably true, 
that the partial and local interests of the people of the 
2 



10 

different states might, by a spirit of accommodation, 
50 blended and reconciled as to produce a great and 1 
monious whole, capable of securing the highest dee 
of national felicity and strength. But we cannot disgi 
our conviction, that a system coeval with the format 
of our Constitution was digested and has been unceas- 
ingly pursued to create and secure a preponderance of 
Weight and power over the Commercial States. Wh 
ever tends to check the growth of the navigating intere 
and prevent the accumulation of wealth in those state 
whatever discourages the increase of their population ai 
encourages emigration from them ; whatever will con - 
tribute to the extension of territory in the Southern anr* 
Western region, by conquest or otherwise, will materia'- 
ly contribute to the attainment of that object. The w« 
now commenced is adapted to produce these effects. 

The first result will be a xvide and wasteful sweep oi 
our vessels by capture. The shipping of Massachusetts? 
is her main sinew. The loss of it is irretrievable, as it 
constitutes capital. But to a southern planter, this is at 
most a temporary evil, as foreign bottoms will carry his 
crops to market. By the embarrassments and losses 
thus attendant upon commerce, it is the expectation of 
some politicians, that it will be deemed unworthy of 
protection and cease to be represented, and that the at- 
tention of men will be diverted from commercial pur- 
suits, and their emigration promoted to countries ac- 
quired or intended to be acquired by conquest or pur- 
chase ; which form no part of the original territory of the 
United States and were not included in. pur national 
^{impact. 



Another cause of the present war must be referred te* 
i spirit of jealousy, and competition with Great Britain^ 
o a mistaken belief that she would yield to the pressure 
of the continental system established by the Tyrant of 
Europe, and to a propensity to co-operate in that sys- 
.em, in the hope of sharing in the glory of its success, 
and perpetuating in our Country the party influence and 
power of its advocates. By adopting and pertinacious- 
ly adhering to this system, the party in power ad- 
vanced too far to retreat without discredit. They have 
calculated that a change of their measures would be a 
confession of error, and that this must be followed by 
the forfeiture of their claim to public confidence. But 
in war, the worst that can befall them is the loss of office 
and of power, and they are not without hope of finding 
a refuge from censure and contempt in the more violent 
passions which are inseparable from a staie of war. 

It is by these means, fellow Citizens, in our appre- 
nension, that you are now involved in WAR. The 
event forms a new Era in our national history. It is an 
event awful, unexpected, hostile to your interests, men- 
acing to your liberties, and revolting to your feelings,, 
It destroys your confidence in the protection which the 
constitution intended to afford against all wars repugnant 
to the interest and will of the people ; and proves that 
your Congress is in greater subjection to Executive in- 
fluence, and to the passions of the few, than to the as- 
cendency of dispassionate councils. But your duties 
are great in proportion to the magnitude of the exigen- 
cy, and the trial imposed upon your fortitude and patri 
®tisi\i, 



12 

You are the Citizens of one country, and bound to supr 
port all constitutional laws, until, by a peaceable change 
of men, you can effect the repeal of such as are obnoxious* 
You must also defend your Country against invasion 
by any foreign enemy, without weighing the justice or 
necessity of the War. We pray you to discourage all at- 
tempts to obtain redress of grievances by any acts of vio- 
lence or combinations to oppose the laws. Your habits 
of obedience to the dictates of duty, your just and tem- 
perate views of your social and political obligations, your 
firm attachment to the Constitution, are pledges for the 
correctness of your conduct. When a great people find 
themselves oppressed by the measures of their govern- 
ment, when their just rights are neglected, their inter- 
ests overlooked, their opinions disregarded, and their re- 
spectful petitions received with supercilious contempt, 
it is impossible for them to submit in silence. In other 
countries, such occurrences produce tumults, rebellion 
and civil war. But in our country, a peaceable remedy 
may be found for these evils in the Constitution. Situ- 
ated, however, as you now are, every man must be quick 
to discern, and active to apply this remedy. It must be 
evident to you, that a President who has made this war, 
is not qualified to make peace ; and that the men who 
have concurred in this act of desperation, are pledged to 
persevere in their course, regardless of all consequences. 
Display then the majesty of the people in the exercise of 
your rights, and sacrificing all party feelings at the altar 
of your country's good, resolve to displace those who 
i^ave abused their power, and betrayed their trust. Or- 
ganize a peace party throughout your country, and let 
all other party distinctions vanish. Keep a steadfast eye 



13 

xjpcm. the presidential election, and remember that if he., 
whose fatal policy has plunged you into this unexampled 
calamity, is again raised to the chair ; and if the abettors 
of war are to be entrusted with conducting it ; you will 
have nothing to expect for years to come, but " the 
sound of the warrior and garments rolled in blood;" 
and that if you should by your aid accelerate the fall of 
Great Britain, you would merely deliver over your ex- 
hausted country, and enslaved posterity to the dominion 
of a tyrant, whose want of power alone restrains him. 
from the exercise of unlimited despotism on the ocean, 
and the same tyranny in the new world which he has 
imposed upon the old. 

To secure a full effect to your object, it will be 
siecessary that you should meet and consult to- 
gether for the common good in your towns and 
counties. It is in dark and trying times, that this 
constitutional privilege becomes invaluable. Express 
your sentiments without fear, and let the sound of your 
disapprobation of this War be loud and deep. Let it 
be distinctly understood, that in support of it, your con-, 
formity to the requisitions of law will be the result of 
principle and not of choice. If your sons must be torn 
from you by conscriptions, consign them to the care of 
God ; but let there be no volunteers except for defen- 
sive war. 

Remember this, if unsuccessful, will be the last effort 
of a free Republic ; you must exhibit to the world the 
magnanimity and constancy of a people suffering under 
the oppression of their rulers and developing resources 
for relief in their own energy and virtue, and in the prin- 



14 

ciples of their Constitution, without destroy 
fabric. Such a spectacle would indeed be most glo- 
rious for our country, and consolatory to a weeping 
world. The friends of the human race would rejoice 
that one free people has escaped a snare into which its 
Government had fallen. But if blind with prejudice 
and passion we permit power to remain with those who 
forget right, we must become the allies of France, and 
our only honor will consist in our having been the last 
free Republic. 

Finally, fellow- citizens, we are constrained to de= 
clare our opinion that the war, under present circum- 
stances, is a wanton sacrifice of your best interests,,* 
That the provocation is not adequate to this highest and 
most signal act of vengeance. That were it ever so 
just, it ought not to be undertaken without greater pre- 
paration. And that tfre declaration of war is in fact a 
commission from our government to the British cruisers 
to seize on that portion of our commorcial capital whicU 
has hitherto escaped the aggressions of foreign nations, 
£nd the no less fatal measures of our own ^ovenjment,' 



% 



<*" .»r^L% > 











0* 



•« 



» h o * ■$ 



v^v 



* l °* 








V^^V° "^%^-\^ °o~^f«*o>' ^% 







Up 




»* ^ 




V^V 





